Thank you to everybody who read, commented, faved, watched, and thumbed. Even the thumbs down, you read and gave your honest opinion, I would hope for an explanation of what you didn't like, but I can't fault you for that.
I rewrote this one today, but it may be a week or more before I get a chance to rewrite and more.
Here it is, the 4x longer chapter three!
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I'm pretty sure I can hear the barn creaking. Rainbow and I are just sitting here, on the pile of hay. I'm pretty sure neither one of us was planning on telling the other about our crush, but we just did. At the same time. A few awkward moments passed.
I slowly stood up and Rainbow followed suit. We walked out of the barn and up to the porch. I opened the front door and held it open so she could go inside. She blushed and tried to hide it as she rushed through through the doorway.
I followed and shut the door behind me. She had taken a seat at the dining room table, so I took the seat across from her. We didn't say anything to each other the entire time.
She started tapping her hooves against the chair.
I started picking at a stray splinter sticking out of the old wood of the table.
This is getting us nowhere.
We could at least be eating breakfast while we're sitting here. As soon as I got off my chair, Rainbow brought both hooves up to the tables surface with a bang.
"Did you mean it?" she asked.
"Eeyup. Ah meant it. Did you?"
"Yeah, I meant it."
We both looked at the floor. I could hear that old clock on the wall ticking away. It seems neither of us knows what to do. "Now what?" I asked.
She took a deep breath before answering, "I dunno."
I don't know either.
After a few more moments of silence, I heard a low growl. At first I thought it was my stomach, but I saw Rainbow grab hers and start blushing.
"Hungry?" I asked.
She gave a few quick nods.
"Ya want some breakfast? Ah'm sure we've got plenty."
"Well," she chewed on her lower lip for a bit, "if it's not too much trouble."
Really? Usually, whenever she comes to visit AJ, she just raids the fridge. I guess she's just nervous. Then again, so am I.
"So, what would ya like?"
Her stomach growled again. "I dunno. Anything's fine."
This isn't the same Pegasus that my sister hangs out with. She seems too uptight, too reserved. She's clamped down on all that energy she normally shows.
Is it because she's nervous?
I don't want her to feel like she can't be herself here. Especially not if, well, if we want to make anything of this. But what, exactly, is this? We both confessed about our crushes, but what does that make us?
I don't know, but I'm going to at least try to... to... something.
My stomach growled. It was more of a low rumble compared to Rainbow's higher pitched growl.
"Hungry?" Rainbow asked with a smile.
That's it. That's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to make her smile. I'm gonna make sure that she's as comfortable being her as she is in her own house.
"Ya know," I glanced at the clock on the wall, "It's kinda late in the mornin'. And Ah don't really feel like cookin' nothin', so would ya want to, I dunno, just raid the fridge, or something."
"Sure!" Her eyes lit up like a foal that just realized it was their birthday. "You don't mind?"
"Nnope, besides, you wouldn't have let that stop you before."
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, because all the energy drained from her expression and she shifted in her seat. "Sorry, I guess that was kind of rude of me."
How do I salvage this? I'm not gonna lie, but I don't want her to feel bad about it.
"Do ya think Ah mind if AJ eats all the bread in one of her midnight sandwich snacks? Think she minds when Ah chug all the milk after a long day of work? It can be a tiny bit irritatin' to find somethin' gone, but the food's there for anypony who wants it, family, friends, whatever we are." Especially whatever we are. "As long as yer stayin' here, don't feel bad about usin' what ya need, just try not to waste it. Oh, and if ya finish somethin' off, add it to the grocery list."
Her smile started to return slowly. "Thanks, Mac. But what exactly are we?"
"That's the 64,000 bit question now, ain't it?"
A look of surprise flashed across her face. "Oh. My. Gosh! You actually remember that old game show?"
"Eeyup. Used to listen to it on the radio every week until it got canceled. The whole family used ta gather in the livin' room and make a regular party out of it."
Her surprise faded into a reminiscent smile. "Yeah, there was an instructor in cloudsdale who used to play the show as part of his class. He would call on somepony and make them answer the question before the contestants did, said it was to help us think on our hooves and make decisions under pressure." She got this little smirk on her face. It was that look she gets before a competition, the look I must have seen a million times directed at AJ. "Ya know," she tapped a hoof to her chin, "I might just happen to have taped a couple of episodes. And they might just happen to be sitting in a box in my closet. You Apples up for a little quiz show sometime?"
I gave a small laugh. "Eeyup." I never figured her for the game show type. But I guess it's just another sort of competition.
"Sweet!" She hopped off her chair. "I haven't listened to those things in ages. How about Wednesday evening?"
"The original time-slot."
"Duh!" She smiled. "When else?"
"That sounds like fun." I smiled back. It looks like she's over her nerves. And we found something we have in common.
She walked past me and into the kitchen. "So that's settled, now let's eat."
"Eeyup." I followed her into the kitchen. But while Rainbow went straight to the refrigerator, I was distracted by the stove, and the sink, and, come to think of it, the table.
Everything was clean.
Too clean.
There were no signs that anypony had made breakfast. In fact, it didn't look like anypony's been in here since I cleaned it yesterday.
"M-m-mac?"
Did Rainbow just stutter?
I looked over to see her standing in front of the refrigerator hand-picked
Is she shaking?
Did she see a spider or something? No, Rainbow wouldn't be scared of somethin' like that.
Maybe it was a big spider? A tarantula? Nah, I've only ever seen those in Apploosa.
I walked over to her. "Um, Rainbow, what's-"
She jabbed a hoof at the refrigerator. I looked where she was pointing.
There was a little yellow piece of paper stuck on the fridge. It was one of those 3Mare sticky notes I bought for AJ. They're real nifty little things, let ya leave a note just about anywhere.
This one read,
Gone to Appleoosa with Granny and Applebloom. Be back in three days with new tree.
AJ
P.S. Don't drink all the milk this time, ya big galoot.
Oh. AJ went out of town.
Wait. AJ went out of town?
That means-
I could feel the heat rising to my face. Oh, pappy, I don't think I can tell ya how glad I am that I got momma's red and not your yellow. Poor Applebloom, she's gonna be so easy to tease.
"S-so," Rainbow reached up and pulled the note off the fridge, "that's pretty cool." She stuck it back to the fridge and pulled it back off. "You don't need tape." She let out a painfully forced laugh.
"Eeyup," I said with a nervous chuckle, "they come in different colors too." Just after she was starting to feel comfortable too. There's no way she'll be able to stay here now. Alone, with me? That's far too awkward. I'll ask Ditzy if Rainbow can stay with her.
"So, Mac," Rainbow bit down on her lip and took a deep breath through her nose, "you never answered my question."
"What question?"
"Well, what are we? You know, to each other?"
"What do ya want ta be?"
"I don't know," she glanced down at her hooves, "this is kind of a new situation for me."
"Eeyup, same here." I've gotta do something, but what? "But Ah think-"
"What?"
"A-Ah think, Ah want to see where this goes. Ah mean, yer always a lot of fun ta have around the farm, and Ah- Ah want to get to know ya better."
"Well, then we could-" she blushed and looked away. She's so cute when she does that.
"Could what?"
"It's just," she looked down, "um, Fluttershy was talking about, um."
Fluttershy? She and Pete go out and do stuff all the time. Is that what she's hinting at?
"We, uh- we could go somewhere." I said.
That would be nice.
"That would be nice." she said.
"Mah thoughts, exactly."
She giggled. I like it when she does that.
***----------------
I giggled.
I do not giggle, why did I do that?
And where are we going to go?
My stomach growled again.
"Uh, Rainbow," said Mac, "why don't we get started on breakfast."
"Yeah, that sounds good."
He opened the refrigerator door, "after you."
I'm blushing again. I can feel it, but I'm not going to turn away. "Thanks Mac, you're such a gentlecolt." What a stupid thing to say. Why does Rarity always talk like that?
"Why thank ya, miss Dash," he said, turning away quickly, "A-Ah try."
Good to know that I'm not the only one feeling awkward and nervous.
I dug around in the refrigerator, it was surprisingly well stocked, with a surprising lack of apples. There was apple jelly, leftover fritters, and even a little cider, but no actual apples. As much as I was tempted by the cider, I decided against it and walked away with a grape soda, fritter, and ,surprisingly, a microwave pizza roll. I went over to microwave and started cooking my pizza roll as Mac started digging around for his food.
He dug out a small jar of apple jelly and a half-empty, half-gallon jug of milk.
As my food spun around in the microwave, I watched as Mac set his stuff on the counter. Then he opened one of the kitchen cabinets.
Inside?
Nothing but apples.
He closed that cabinet and scratched his head. Then he picked another cabinet and opened it. This time, there was nothing but jars of apple jelly. He didn't even bother to close that one. I had to hold back laughter as he systematically opened every cabinet in the kitchen, each time revealing a different apple-based product, from apple butter to applesauce.
Then he looked at me.
No.
He looked past me, at the microwave.
I turned around. Why is he looking at the microwave?
Oh.
I couldn't hold back the laughter anymore. There, on top of the microwave, on display, was a jar of peanut butter and a loaf of bread. I looked over at Mac, he looked embarrassed.
"Oh, I'm sorry," I tossed the peanut butter to Mac then carried the bread over to him, "but you gotta admit, that was pretty funny."
"Ah s'pose," a grin slowly appeared. on his face, "it was, wasn't it?"
The microwave started beeping and I went and took out the pizza roll.
Ow! Hot!
I set it on the counter to cool and stuck the fritter in the microwave. I better not cook this one as long. Thirty seconds should be fine. After hitting the start button, I turned around.
Mac had a stack of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches five tall.
I watched in fascination as he ate them all, two bites per sandwich. Then he up-ended the milk jug and drained it. Then he started cleaning up.
The microwave started beeping again. Wait, he ate all that in 30 seconds. Whoa.
He started walking out of the kitchen, but before he did, he looked over at my pizza roll on the counter. "Yeah, Scootaloo got Applebloom stuck on them things. Ah figured you'd like'em too."
"Um, yeah, they're really my favorite breakfast food."
Mac chewed on his lower lip a little bit, making me realize how much I've been doing that lately. "Ah guess Ah'll have ta stock up on,em then." He started scratching the back of his neck. "Ah mean, if ya still want to stay here."
Stay here? For three days? With Mac? And free pizza rolls? That doesn't sound too bad, a little awkward, but I'm pretty sure I can trust him. "Yeah, I still want to stay here. Are you okay with that?"
He looked at me and I could tell he was trying to hold back his smile. "Eeyup." I don't know why, but when he says that, the conversation feels like its over. He must have noticed it to, because his half-hidden smile disappeared and his gaze started drifting to the floor. "Ah'll be on the porch." He walked off.
I took the fritter out of the microwave and slammed it down. Then I polished off the pizza roll and chugged the soda. I made sure I burped in the kitchen. I did not want to do that in front of Mac.
Even though I have before.
But now it's different. I feel really self-conscious around him now. I bet he feels the same.
I walked out of the house and onto the porch. He was sitting there looking out over the Apple orchard.
"Hey, Mac, do you have chores today?"
"Nope."
"Really?" That means we could do something, my cheeks felt warm just thinking the next word, together.
"Nope."
What? But you just- Oh. "Funny."
"Eeyup."
We both laughed at his little joke and I could feel the tension I felt earlier melting away.
I don't know why I did it, but something about the moment felt right. I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. This time, it wasn't rushed, it wasn't akward, and I knew that he felt the same. This time, it was perfect. My heart was racing, like it did during my stunts, or during a race.
Then he returned the kiss, my heart nearly exploded at the warm, soft touch. I never thought I could be this happy unless I was flying. I think I'm going to enjoy all this relationship stuff.
I can't wait till I'm flying again, that's the only thing that could possibly make this better.
I was fired up. "Let's get those chores done!"
"Ah will," he said, laughing as he stepped off the porch, "it shouldn't take too long."
"What're you talking about?" I hopped off the porch. There was no pain this time. "With me helping you, these chores'll be done in ten seconds flat!"
He pointed at my hooves. "What about yer ankle?"
"Oh, it's fine, Fluttershy did a great job with the bandage. It doesn't even hurt anymore." I jumped up and down like Pinkie does all the time. "See?"
Mac thought about it a little. "But, I don't want to-"
I put up a hoof to stop him. "If you don't let me help, I'll probably go crazy from boredom. Besides I still need to get my daily training in, even if I can't fly. So helping with the farm work is a win-win situation."
"All right," he sighed, "but only if yer sure. And nothin' heavy like plowin' or applebuckin'. Ya need to heal."
"Relax, how hard could it be?"
Answer, very hard. Four hours later, I was only halfway through with AJ's chores, minus the applebucking, and I was struggling the entire time.
I had helped with farm chores before, but this was the first time I couldn't use my wings. I had to carry things like buckets in my mouth, where I had just taken flight and held it in my hooves before. It was kind of a strain on my neck, so I started filling buckets halfway and making two trips. But that meant twice as much walking and all this walking was killing my legs. I'm built for bursts of speed, not the long haul.
It kind of explains why Big Mac is so solid though.
I'm blushing again, I can feel it. Why? How can I stop it? I hope Big Mac can't see me. Where is he anyway? I haven't seen him for at least an hour. Not that I'm that desperate to see him.
Ok, maybe just a little.
But I don't want to be clingy.
Maybe just a quick peek.
***---------------
The plow was pulling easy today. I, no, we, woke up kind of late, but the works going quickly today. I looked up. Judging by the sun, it's a little past one in the afternoon. I looked back down and I could see Rainbow in the distance.
What is she doing? It looks like she's looking for something. She didn't let one of the chickens loose, did she? No, she would have told me.
I hope.
It's surprising how well she's holding up, considering that she can't use her wings, but we really should stop soon. I normally work through lunch, but I'm not gonna make her do that.
I didn't want to make her work in the first place. She's a guest and it ain't right to make a guest do chores. I know she said she wanted to, but I should make it up to her somehow.
She said she wanted to go somewhere, so maybe I could take her somewhere nice for lunch. But where? I have no idea where to go. Where are you supposed to take somepony on a date?
A date? This is a date right? Two ponies who like each other going somewhere to get know each other better. Eeyup. It's.
I'm going on a date with Rainbow Dash! To paraphrase her, oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I'm going on a date with Rainbow Dash.
Ok. Settle down there Mac. Think this through. Where do you go on a date?
I don't know.
What do you know about dating?
About as much as a cow knows about laying eggs.
Do you know anypony who knows more about dating than you.
Everypony.
Any of them stand out? Any of them currently dating somepony?
Pete and Fluttershy!
Well then! Where do Pete and Fluttershy go on their dates?
I never asked.
Wow, I'm useless, aren't I?
Yeah, I am. Sorry, I just never thought I'd be in this situation!
Oh, why didn't I ask them? Maybe I still can. Pete's probably at work, but I could go ask Fluttershy. The chores are almost done. I just have to-
I looked behind me.
The row of field I was supposed to be plowing ended a couple hundred feet back. I got distracted and ran a plow through the front yard! "Granny ain't gonna be happy." I muttered to myself.
"'Bout what?"
I turned to face the object of my distractions, "don't ya sneak up on me like that."
"Aww," she feigned disappointment,"but your eyebrow does this little twitch when you're surprised."
Huh?
"Like that," she said, tracing small circles on the ground with her hoof. "It's cute," she tried to hide her face.
Cute? Did Rainbow Dash really just say that?
She gasped suddenly and her eyes went wide. "But you can't tell anypony I said that. Not Applejack, not my friends, not your friends, and especially not Rarity! You got that?"
"Eeyup." What else could I say, she seemed awful serious about that.
"Good," she sighed and wiped a hoof across her forehead, "if Rarity ever found out I was being all sappy, she'd probably drag me to the spa for, ugh," she made a funny face like Applebloom does when she eats green beans, "girl talk," she shuddered.
After that, I couldn't resist a little good natured teasing. "Ya could prob'ly use a nice day at the spa." I laughed when a look of shock appeared on her face. "Yer a mess!" I pointed at the straw in her mane.
"Well those chickens of yours didn't want to settle down," she tried to brush it away, but only made it stick up more, "and what about you?"
"Me?"
"Yeah! You're messier than I am. If anything you need a spa day more than I do." She leaned up and sniffed my mane," you're all sweaty after dragging that plow all day." She closed her eyes and sort of fell forward, resting her head against my neck. "Ahh!" She jerked her head straight up," Why did I- I mean, um, you smell, you need to go to a spa, or take a bath, or something."
That's a good idea.
I copied her gesture as best I could, "So do you." I lifted my head. This is crazy, but it's the only idea I have. "Let's go."
"Huh?" She tilted her head in confusion.
"The chores're done, and we've got the rest of the day to ourselves." I unhitched myself from the plow. I'll have to patch up the yard later. "Ya wanted to go somewhere, so let's go."
"Go where?" Her eyes went wide and she took a step back, "you don't mean?"
"Eeyup."
"B-but," she stammered," I'm not, I mean, it's, well, what if somepony sees us?"
"What if somepony sees us?"
"I don't know. What if Rarity or one of my other friends are there?" Is she embarrassed about being seen with me? Or is she embarrassed about being seen at the spa?
"We could sneak in."
"What?"
"We disguise ourselves, and sneak in. We pretend we don't know each other and if ya get caught, ya gotta say yer alone."
"Oh," her eyes lit up, she's in competition mode now, "you're on!"
"Now we need disguises, Ah think AJ's still got that hat Fluttershy gave her."
"What are we waiting for? Let's get to it." She ran off for the house.
I laughed to myself and followed after her. I meant it before, there's always some sort of fun commotion when Rainbow Dash visits the farm.
And it don't look like that's about ta change.